Technology
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‘Pronoun Check’ Took Over TikTok, But Reactions From Transgender, Nonbinary Communities Are Mixed
When popular, lighthearted TikTok dances and social media activism combine, the product is a trend like the “pronoun check” challenge. What’s a ‘Pronoun Check’? This trend, which has users dancing to a snippet of Daft Punk’s 2001 hit “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and sharing their opinions on their preferred…
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Print Journalism’s Fading Echo: Impact of News Desertification in Northeast Georgia
In Lexington, Georgia, less than 20 miles from Athens, there’s a small, white building tucked behind a gravel parking lot surrounded by overgrown grass. Untrimmed bushes obscure a rusty metal sign that reads “The Oglethorpe Echo.” Framed on a wall of the entryway is a newspaper clipping: a profile on…
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Jackson County Library Provides Stable Environment For Digital Learners
Duncan Reynolds, a student at East Jackson Comprehensive High School, has not yet gone back to school in person. Lately, he has been doing the majority of his schoolwork at his local library in Nicholson. Harold S. Swindle Public Library in Jackson County offers Wi-Fi and a productive environment for…
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The Disinformation Breakdown: What It Is, What It’s Not, and How To Detect It
Lorna Ramage is a senior majoring in journalism at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
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Another Option: Broadband Internet Plan Coming to Oconee County
The issue of spotty internet in Oconee County is not a novel concept to Kelley Buttrick, a professional voiceover talent working from her home in Bishop, Georgia, in the southern portion of Oconee County. She said her ability to communicate with her clients is often hindered by the unreliable internet…
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Competitive Comradery: Members of Esports@UGA Build Friendships On, Off Screen
Esports has broken into mainstream media and become a $1 billion industry over the past few years. Leagues have formed around individual games, like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch, attracting six-figure investments that finance teams or individual players. This has led to the formation of smaller groups and…
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Social Media Helps Artists, Performers Showcase Their Art in COVID-19 Era
As a hairstylist, Amanda Hamarics never thought she needed social media until a pandemic happened. Her Instagram is now the only way she can connect with her clients and share her art. Social media is helping artists, like Hamarics, and their businesses that usually rely on in-person interaction. Hamarics,…
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Love Through Screens: How Different Generations Of One Family Connect During Coronavirus
Listening to the Wahn family sing “Happy Birthday” is like hearing a choir of wolves howling to the moon—disjointed, a bit off-key and, above all, loud. Coming in at 28 members strong when all are present and accounted for, it’s a broken chorus that fills a cramped kitchen at least…
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Art Lessons in Minecraft: How Liberty County Schools Are Pivoting To Online Learning
Core classes like English or math translate relatively easily from classroom to computer. “Connection classes,” like art and band, require a little reworking in order to successfully make that transition. Liberty County, Georgia, is experiencing these transitions with all of their courses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the county…
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Athens-Area Churches Transition to Online Services
There are two holidays in which Christian churches can count on peak engagement—Easter and Christmas. But this year, due to imposed social-distancing measures, church buildings across Georgia remained empty. Athens-area churches have adapted, using online services to engage remotely. Although they are thankful to meet, conducting services and congressional communication…